Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 54283 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 271(@200wpm)___ 217(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54283 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 271(@200wpm)___ 217(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
His eyes widen before his face contorts with rage. He leaps to his feet, his chair crashing against the wall behind him. "You motherfucker! You've been manipulating her this entire time, trying to use her to destroy me."
"No, I haven't. I considered it. I wanted to make you squirm, take her from you and break you, and then I met her." I hold his gaze, letting him read the truth in mine. "She isn't something to be used, Sullivan. She isn't a pawn. I haven't asked her a single thing about your family. I haven't tried to get a single scrap of information from her. The last place I want her is in the middle."
"You lying bastard," Nolan practically shouts. "You killed her fucking bodyguards!"
"I came to burn this club to the ground," I snap, and even though I shouldn't, I appreciate the little sliver of fear that flares in his eyes. It feeds my soul. "She's the reason it's still standing. As a matter of fact, she's the only reason I haven't ripped through your entire goddamn family like a missile. I don't want her in the middle."
"If she's in the middle, it's because you put her there," he snarls, leaning over the desk, his eyes narrowing to icy slits. "You put your goddamn hands on her. On my daughter!"
"And you put her in a cage," I growl, my hands clenching into fists. "How much longer do you think she was going to survive it, Sullivan? How many more bodies do you think you could pile on her conscience before she snapped? One more? Two?"
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
"Open your eyes!" I roar. "Your daughter? The one you're so worried about now? She's been drowning in your care for years! But you were too busy looking the other way to even notice, so don't stand there now and act like I'm the monster for loving her. Someone needed to."
Maybe he loves his daughter, but he hasn't loved her right. He put her in a cage and neglected to notice that it wasn't nearly big enough for her. It was smothering her, killing her light. And he just let it happen, over and over again, day after fucking day.
Brynna wasn't meant for a cage. She wasn't meant to be smothered. She needs more than that. And this prick has had his head too far up his own ass to realize that his brand of protection was a death sentence for her.
"If you want to hate me for setting her free, so be it. I can't stop you. But she will be free. And she won't be in the middle of this war. I didn't come here to beg. I didn't come to plead. I won't get on my fucking knees, Sullivan," I say, my lip curling as I stare at him. "I came to give you a chance to do right by her because it's what she deserves. But I'll force you and your family with my boot on your neck if that's what I have to do to protect her."
Nolan slams his fist down on the desk, the crystal tumblers and decanter on top rattling violently. His eyes blaze with fury, a vein pulsing at his temple. "You think you can come in here and threaten me? Threaten my family? I will wipe you and your entire fucking empire from existence before you touch my daughter again, Leyva."
I laugh softly. He still doesn't get it. He still thinks this is a war. It isn't. The rules have changed. This is a hostile takeover. And I'm willing to swallow any poison pill necessary to do what needs to be done.
"You aren't hearing me, Sullivan. She's what matters. She's the only thing that matters. I'll rip it all apart if that's what it takes to protect her. Try to take her from me and I'll burn your fucking world to the ground," I say, striding toward the door. "Insist on continuing your little war and I'll raze your empire and mine both. When I'm finished, there won't be anything but ash left."
I leave him standing there, spluttering and cursing my existence, as I step out into the hall, slamming the door behind me. He can try to fight me. He can try to continue this war. It'll only cost him everything in the end. The only things I'll leave are Brynna, Niall, and a fucking roof over the old bastard's head.
And I'll inflict the same damage on my own empire if that's what it takes. I'll raze it to the goddamn ground and start again.
Fuck Rojas. Fuck duty. Fuck everything.
I'm done.
I've been this man for long enough. My people want someone new? They're going to get him. But they really shouldn't have bit the hand that feeds them. Because new Nazario? He's done sacrificing everything for an empire he never wanted in the first place.